Cempaka Village – The Nasi Lemak King @ Aman Suria

Recently I saw a restaurant’s banner along LDP advertising their Nasi Lemak, claiming they are the King of our national dish. More interestingly, they even let you have it free if you do not like it. This marketing gimmick proved to be a success, well at least to me, as I went hunting for this restaurant immediately once I had the time.
At that time I did not know the advertiser is Cempaka Village in Aman Suria, which also happened to be on my list of makan places to visit. Anyway, I have been wanting to try Cempaka Village because Penang food is their specialty, and I have heard some good things about them too.

Now about the nasi lemak, it is no doubt tasty so no wonder they aren’t shy of proclaiming themselves as the King (in Aman Suria, mind you) My take as follow:

The dominating aroma of the coconut milk rice is fantastic and appetizing. Screw cholesterol.

Rice is well cooked (albeit being low grade), fluffy and separate with good biting texture. Served warm as well.

Sambal is not oily, tastes hot and spicy just the way I like it.

Ikan bilis is fresh and crunchy.

Ayam goreng berempah is juicy despite looking rather dry after being fried.

RM7.50 for a plate like this is reasonable.

Needless to say I enjoyed the nasi lemak so I happily paid for it. With that said I wonder if someone really told the restaurant they didn’t like it?

I actually wanted to have Chicken Rendang instead but it would seem like a clash of tastes between sambal and the heavily spiced rendang. So no regrets with the ayam goreng, together with the sambal they make a nice couple.

The Penang Prawn Mee (RM5) was OK. Just the clear-looking soup alone should be an indication of the taste to follow, the prawn flavor was simply not robust enough. Plus, the prawns used were those farmed ones seriously lacking in sea-fresh taste. Honestly, I did not expect my expectations to plummet so fast after the delicious nasi lemak lol.

ABC Ice Cream @ RM4.30, with the heavy use of syrup it has a nice distinctive taste that separates itself from the rest that rely more on gula melaka.

So now I am just waiting for another restaurant to pop up with the title “Emperor of Nasi Lemak”. We all know that is bound to happen sooner or later, right? In case any nasi lemak shop owners are reading this, I have already given you the idea!